That counterpart, according to Ortis, briefed him about a "storefront" that was being created to attract criminal targets to an online encryption service. A storefront, said Ortis, is a fake business or entity, either online or bricks-and-mortar, set up by police or intelligence agencies.

The plan was to have criminals use the storefront — an online end-to-end encryption service called Tutanota — to allow authorities to collect intelligence about them.

Wait, WHAT?

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Cameron Ortis, the former RCMP intelligence official on trial in Ottawa, says he was tipped off by a counterpart at a "foreign agency" that the people he's accused of leaking secrets to had "moles" inside Canadian police services.

"I had sensitive information from multiple sources that each of the subjects had compromised or penetrated Canadian law enforcement agencies," Ortis testified last week.

The testimony is contained in redacted transcripts released Friday evening, more than a week after the former civilian member began testifying in his defence during his unprecedented trial.

The Crown alleges Ortis used his position as the head of a highly secret unit within the RCMP to attempt to sell intelligence gathered by Canada and its Five Eyes allies to individuals linked to the criminal underworld.

Ortis is accused of sharing information in 2015 with Ramos, the head of Phantom Secure, a Canadian company that made encrypted devices for criminals.

Under cross-examination, Crown prosecutor John MacFarlane asked why Ortis didn't approach one of the Five Eyes partners to discuss his plans with them "just generally."

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